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Gratiot County Projects

A Planning Tool for Sustaining and Improving the Health of Saginaw Bay’s Coastal Habitat

Watershed Wide

CD

June 2005 - This project, sponsored by Ducks Unlimited, developed a planning methodology for enhancing and conserving the ecological health of coastal habitat areas along wetland types as well as increase community awareness of the importance of sustaining the ecological health of coastal habitats to human and wildlife populations.

All Bird Planning for Spring Stopover Sites in the Saginaw Bay Watershed

Watershed Wide

CD

October 2004 - This project identified important habitats that are needed by migrating birds in our region. To promote science based identification and planning of critical spring stop over sites, this grant supported the necessary literature review and interviews of recognized experts to produce an annotated bibliography and summary list of attributes for all bird groups; and developed the spatial, landscape level targeting map for habitat conservation and protection of critical spring stopover habitat.

May 2006 - The Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas II is a statewide project to document and survey the state’s breeding birds. The atlas documents nesting distribution, abundance and habitat use of endangered species. The project identified at the section level, the unique habitats or assemblages of bird species for use in conservation and management decisions. This project supported the work to document birds in the Saginaw Bay Watershed. In addition to assisting in the funding of the final state wide report this WIN investment also allowed the Kalamazoo Nature Center to publish and distribute an appendix report that focused specifically on the Saginaw Bay region. A local planning team will guide that part of the effort to ensure that the best available data is produced so that local management decisions can be made by agency and nonprofit resource management group.

Building Skill in Forage & Pasture Management

Watershed Wide

LC

October 2001 - This program was designed to educate current producers and new livestock producers about the many facets of forage and pasture production and grazing management. Those project offered classes that included an introduction to managed rotational grazing, the importance of soil fertility and management, the establishment of forage crops, layout and design of grazing systems, animal nutrition, and pollution prevention. The project provided participants with the basic skills of forage and pasture management as well as contact people who can provide technical assistance after the formal classes ended.

Community Wood Use and Demonstration Project

Watershed Wide

LM

June 2010 - This project considers a demonstration / fundraising project related to the use of urban wood (forest management and tree removal primarily). Recognizing the increased infestation of the emerald ash borer and its effect on the ash tree stock, as well as the fact that communities continue to cut back significantly on forestry programs, this project proposed to use this wood – and other urban wood -for new purposes. Generally, urban wood is chipped. This project will show that the wood can be used for other purposes, some of which can be profitable and can self-support these efforts.

Connecting Michigan: Planning for the Future of Michigan’s Trailway System

Watershed Wide

CD

November 2005 - This project convened trail groups from throughout the state to discuss and evaluate the potential for a state-wide trail network, as well as develop a statewide trail database and website. The project incorporated information from several previously funded WIN projects, including the Saginaw Bay Greenways Collaborative project and the GLS Greenlinks program. This project also identified and cataloged trail opportunities for the 16 counties that had not yet been mapped in the Saginaw Bay Watershed.

Conservation District Challenge Grants for Wildlife

Watershed Wide

LM

The objective of this project was to provide “cost-share” dollars to conservation district offices in the Saginaw Bay Watershed for the purchase of “plotmaster” field equipment. The plotmaster is a self-contained implement that allows for the tillage of small tracts of land that ordinary tillage equipment is too large for. The plotmaster equipment also incorporates a seeding device that allows the simultaneous planting of suitable habitat type flora. This grant paid for 65% of the cost for the equipment, and interested conservation districts will paid for 35%. This project is designed to improve habitat in areas that were previously inaccessible, including riparian areas in woodland settings, and along drains that cannot be accessed by other means.

Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) Technical Assistance

Watershed Wide

LC

The purpose of Michigan's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is to reduce sediment, phosphorus and nitrogen loads entering the surface waters in watersheds that have intense agricultural land use. The goal is timprove water quality, sources of drinking water, and wildlife habitats. This project provided technical assistance to promote and assist landowners enrolling in CREP in the Saginaw Bay Watershed. CREP technicians were located in the following conservation districts: Arenac, Huron, Isabella, Sanilac, Shiawassee and Tuscola. The Saginaw Bay Watershed covers 5,573,000 acres, of which 46% is agriculture, 29% forested, 11% open land, 8% urban, 4% wetlands, and 2% water. CREP improves water quality, enhances fish and wildlife habitat, and enhances nestingupland forested and grasslands birds and waterfowl. With a goal of enrolling 90,000 acres, Michigan’s CREP will be the largest voluntary conservation program in the state. Sediment and nutrients are the primary pollutants addressed by CREP practices, with secondary pollutants being bacteria and pesticides. Additionally, as the GLakes make up 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater, protecting water quality in this important area is a primary focus of all Michigan CREP partners.

November 2000 - This project was designed to encourage landowners to leave corn stubble on farmed fields undisturbed over the winter for the purposes of wildlife food and habitat, as well as to control erosion. This specific grant was used to provide administrative/educational funding to the Saginaw Bay RC&D and Soil Conservation District for the Waterfowl Food Plot project currently in progress and funded by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The educational efforts of the Conservation District included slide presentations, newsletters, leaflets and verbal descriptions to farmers of residue benefits during the administrative activities. Innovative Farmers, a group who currently provides technical conservation information directly to other farmers, also assisted in the implementation of this project.

CREP Permanent Conservation Easement Acquisition Program to 2007

Watershed Wide

LC

The State of Michigan Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) was created to help address nonpoint source pollution. CREP encourages farmers to implement conservation practices, such as creating and maintaining natural vegetated corridors along rivers and streams. Farmers who agree to participate in one or more of the CREP practices receive funding to implement and maintain the practice for a period of fifteen years, starting in 2001. By working with various partners, the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy purchased or helped coordinate the purchase of 31 permanent conservation easements on CREP practices, protecting the land in perpetuity from any type of development. Located throughout the watershed (and one outside of our watershed), the easements are held by land conservancies serving the area.
The Saginaw Basin is the largest watershed in the state of Michigan. It drains 15% of Michigan’s land area and covers 8,000 square miles and touches all or part of twenty-two counties in the central eastern part of the state. Nonpoint source pollution represents a large and pervasive portion of total water quality problems. Many of our drains and streams have been stripped of their vegetation to provide additional land for farming, resulting in increased sediment and nutrient loadings into the water. This project resulted in the acquisition of 27 permanent conservation easements which will protect in perpetuity 166 acres of filter strips, 1,407 acres of restored wetlands and 52 acres of riparian corridor.

The State of Michigan Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) was created to help address nonpoint source pollution. CREP encourages farmers to implement conservation practices, such as creating and maintaining natural vegetated corridors along rivers and streams. Farmers who agree to participate in one or more of the CREP practices receive funding to implement and maintain the practice for a period of fifteen years starting in 2001. By working with various partners, the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy purchased or helped coordinate the purchase of 45 permanent conservation easements on CREP practices, protecting the land in perpetuity from any type of development. Located throughout the Saginaw Bay watershed (and one outside of our watershed), the easements are held by land conservancies serving the area.
The Saginaw Basin is the largest watershed in the state of Michigan. It drains 15% of Michigan’s land area covers 8,000 square miles and touches all or part of twenty-two counties in the central eastern part of the state. Nonpoint source pollution represents a large and pervasive portion of total water quality problems. Many of our drains and streams have been stripped of their vegetation

May 2004 - This three year project investigated the Tittabawassee, Shiawassee, Cass, and Saginaw Rivers, to determine if lake sturgeon were utilizing these rivers for spawning. The study area included the free flowing portions of these rivers from Lake Huron up river to the first impassable barrier. Anecdotal reports by recreational anglers indicated that occasionally adult lake sturgeon are being captured below the low head dam on the Tittabawassee River near the town of Midland. The origin, distribution and spawning success of that population of lake sturgeon was unknown. Personnel from the US Fish and Wildlife Service Alpena FRO (Service) surveyed these rivers for the presence of spawning lake sturgeon. Information gathered is providing essential data required to guide future habitat protection, enhancement, and restoration activities in the Saginaw River watershed. This project was a crucial first step in determining the present and potential contribution of lake sturgeon from these rivers to adjacent populations in Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. Additionally, this effort is assisting in the recovery of sturgeon from state “Threatened” status and is consistent with MDNR Lake Sturgeon Rehabilitation Strategy (LSRS). Funding of this project allowed the Service to participate in and expedite the Lake Huron Bi-National Partnership process including on the ground restoration actions and support an International Joint Commission initiative for delisting the Saginaw River as an Areas of Concern.

Expressions of Learning

Watershed Wide

CD

November 2006 - The “Just a Drop of Water” curriculum is part of the National Literacy Through Photography project and was implemented by the University of Michigan – Flint. Addressing writing and literacy, the project uses photography to stimulate basic learning skills, particularly reading, writing and verbal communication. This project focused on water issues and water conservation. The University partnered with two schools – one urban and one rural to kick off this program. U-M Flint was the first site in Michigan to host this unique curriculum.

Farmland Preservation Workshop

Watershed Wide

LM

October 2001 - This project was a local extension of a series of workshops focused on current tools and techniques for protecting farmland and developing successful land use planning strategies. WIN funding assisted in the planning and implementation of a one-day workshop that will outlined available programs by bringing in expertise from around the nation to discuss these issues.

Filter Strip Education

Watershed Wide

LC

November 1999 - Through this project the District worked with the Saginaw Bay RC&D, the Bay and Saginaw Conservation Districts, and the Farm Service Agency to develop a brochure and host a tour for farmland owners in the Tri-County area to inform them about the economic and environmental benefits of filter strips and the availability of federal support to install them.

Fisheries Scoping Study

Watershed Wide

CD

November 1998 - Shortly after it was organized in late summer 1998, the WRTG identified fishery enhancement as a primary area of initial focus for its work. The WRTG wished to identify areas where it could target its time and resources to make a tangible difference in the quality and public perception of water resources in The Saginaw Bay Watershed. The WRTG asked The Conservation Fund to perform a scoping study to help it develop a practical, broad-based understanding of public perceptions about fisheries in the watershed and the status of those fisheries. The study also identified an array of appropriate project opportunities for WIN and new WIN partners. The WRTG has begun tapping those opportunities and working with new partners. A final report on the Fisheries Scoping Study was submitted to the Bay Area Community Foundation on August 25, 1999.

Habitat Protection Plan

Watershed Wide

CD

November 1999 - Project partners developed an integrated Habitat Protection Plan that coordinates and leverages the efforts of the entities working in the watershed, identify priority habitat areas and recommend sample projects.

Harvesting Clean Energy Conference

Watershed Wide

LM

November 2005 - This project included a local conference in 2006 that focused on bringing agriculture and energy interests together to advace opportunities for producers and rural communites to profitable diversity into clean energy production. Grant dollars were used to bring in national experts to highlight a variety of successful projects, programs and technologies that have worked in other parts of the nation that could be implemented and replicated in the Saginaw Bay Region.

Invasive Brush Control for the Enhancement of CREP Grassland Restorations

Watershed Wide

LM

November 2000 - The U.S.D.A. has spent $2.5 million to administer a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) which has restored over 25,000 acres of wetland/grassland complexes in the Saginaw Bay Watershed during 2001 and 2002. Portions of these restorations are vulnerable to brush invasion during early stages of establishment if they are near wooded areas. In order to establish the desired plant communities, brush must be controlled either by mowing or application of Garlon 3A herbicide. Chemical spot treatment during the first year or two of restoration appear to be the most effective and least costly means of control identified thus far. The grant funds will be used to hire contractors who have the training and experience to identify target species without injuring the desired prairie and wetland species. Currently brush control is not an eligible practice under the CREP program. This project will demonstrate to CREP administrators the need for brush control funding in future CREP programs. Grasslands are important habitat for small mammals, which are an important food source for red-tailed hawks, marsh hawks, short-eared owls, red fox, and coyotes. Grasslands provide nesting cover for Henslow, grasshopper, and vesper sparrows, meadowlarks, bobolinks, bobwhite quail, pheasants, and several species of ducks.

Michigan Waterfowl Legacy Implementation in the Saginaw Bay Region

Watershed Wide

LM

December 2012 - This project supports an expanded Saginaw Bay component of the newly created Michigan Waterfowl Legacy program. The MWL is a statewide effort to promote the use of wetlands, primarily by hunters, new hunters, and birders. The objective of the program is to improve waterfowl populations and habitat, increase waterfowl hunting participation, promote the value of waterfowl hunting, and engages citizens to take positive action to conserve the state’s waterfowl and wetland areas. This coalition operates on a small, statewide budget primarily supported by the partners in the coalition. This proposal seeks to fund work specifically in the Saginaw Bay Watershed – work that will primarily include communication and marketing materials and events.

October 2001 - This project provided education, training and experience in organic production certification and marketing for organic farmers who are interested in these practices. This project developed the framework for a decreased use of agricultural chemicals, developed the capacity for small-farm based organic production, and an increased profitability for producers who choose to participate in this niche market. Learning activities included group meetings, tours, on-farm demonstrations, field days, regional conferences, focus groups and mentorships.

Outdoor Writers Tour of the Saginaw Bay Area

Watershed Wide

CD

May 1999 - The CVBs partnered to promote the watershed’s outdoor attractions to outdoor writers visiting the area for a national In Fisherman walleye tournament. The tournament was held August 4-6, 1999. The writers’ tour was held July 30 – August 6. The CVBs developed a targeted list of writers and a package of materials about the watershed’s attractions. By exposing a cross section of writers to the watershed’s amenities, the CVBs can generate stories in credible national and regional media about the Saginaw Bay area and the watershed.

Place Based Blended Learning

Watershed Wide

CD

December 2010 - This project, sponsored by University of Michigan – Flint intends to fund the development of a series of on-line short courses focused on improving the capacity of schools (particular focus on urban schools) to conduct place-based education. Place-based education promotes learning that is rooted in local, unique history, environment, culture etc… that is in a student’s own place or immediate geographic location. This project is a part of an ongoing effort at U-M Flint that partners the university with the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative in a 10-year program to promote and address urban environmental stewardship needs. The online course will focus on sustainability – the relationship of the environment, community, and economy – and will offer continuing education credits through UM-Flint for successful completion of the courses.

Pollution Prevention for Regional Healthcare Facilities

Watershed Wide

WM

November 1999 - The National Wildlife Federation launched this voluntary program with all major health facilities across the watershed to reduce the amount of mercury in hospital waste streams. The project quantifies the amount of mercury diverted. Partners in this region included Bay Medical Center, Covenant Hospital, and Mid-Michigan Regional Medical Center.

Raptor Housing Project

Watershed Wide

CD

April 2000 - The Wildlife Recovery Association (WRA) offers programs that promote interest in wildlife and participate in wildlife events at various nature centers, businesses and outdoor events. This particular project focused on their Birds of Prey program and funded the repair of the housing used for these birds that were built 25 years ago. The cages funded by this grant will helped WRA reach more than 20,000 people each year with quality, award winning programs.

Regional Marketing (of watershed to bird watchers)

Watershed Wide

CD

November 1997 - This project was developed to improve awareness of birding opportunities in the Saginaw Bay Watershed, and to insure that the region receives its share of the $521 million spent on bird watching in Michigan each year. A regional birding brochure was developed and sent to members of the American Birders Association throughout the Great Lakes states and in Texas, was distributed to Michigan Welcome Centers, and provided to local convention and visitors’ bureaus and businesses that serve birders. WIN member Ron Weeks developed a website that promotes birding in the watershed. The address of the site is www.saginawbaybirding.org. The website is now maintained by an avid birder from Bay City. The final element of the marketing campaign is the development and placement of advertisements in key birding magazines. WIN’s new Marketing Task Group has developed and placed the advertisements in the spring, summer and winter 2000 issues of Bird Watchers Digest, Birder’s World and WildBird.

Restoring Flows and Enhancing Fish Passage over Low-head Barrier Dams in the Saginaw River Wateshed

Watershed Wide

LM

Based on research presented in the WIN Water Resources Fisheries Scoping Study, this document detailed a critical issue facing the natural reproduction of the Saginaw Bay Fishery as lack of access to appropriate spawning areas caused by dams. This project developed a strategy for resource managers and communities that will assess the most cost-effective options for fish removal and/or fish passage to achieve the targeted, sustainable fish population goals for Saginaw Bay. This strategy includes a classification of dams in the Saginaw River Watershed based on current use, ownership, expected life span, potential safety issues, sea lamprey barrier issues, and other factors such as potential for increasing spawning habitat in a tributary, as well as costs and funding options.
Watershed Wide

Saginaw Bay Agriculture Marketing & Development Network

Watershed Wide

CD

October 2001 - MSU is exploring the opportunity to develop a cross-discipline team of individuals that could assist producers in developing new networks, strategies and market opportunities for their products. The projects picked up on the need for expertise in areas of value-added production and niche markets, along with a diversification in farm produce that can help to make farming a more profitable endeavor. MSU developed a strategic network of individuals (including MSU Extension agents, economic development, leaders, and local lenders) who might be able to provide the needed business expertise to bring new, creative, and innovative products to the market.

May 2004 - This project focused on the promotion and education of both an agricultural and non-agricultural audience about the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP). The MAEAP is a voluntary agricultural pollution prevention program which ensures that participating producers use effective land stewardship practices that comply with environmental regulations. This grant supported the development of a DVD that serves as a promotional piece for the program, to communicate with local communities about MAEAP and what Saginaw Bay farmers are doing to protect the environment through this voluntary program. Additionally, the DVD serves to educate Saginaw Bay farmers and others about the program and how to participate, along with providing additional technical materials including pdf documents, presentations, web links and technical documents necessary to participate in the program.

Saginaw Bay Sustainable Business Forum (Phase 2)

Watershed Wide

CD

October 2001 - This proposal is a request for second year funding of a three-year project to develop the Saginaw Bay Sustainable Business Partnership. The first year of the program has resulted in the successful creation of a sustainable business organization and an interim board of directors composed of charter members. The second year funding is to create technical work groups composed of member companies to develop guidance and implementation tools on sustainable purchasing, environmental management systems and green facility operation.

Saginaw Bay Sustainable Business Partnership

Watershed Wide

CD

April 2000 - Sustainability is an emerging business trend that is quickly moving from the fringes of strategic planning into the core operations of many international corporations. The adoption of this strategy is being accelerated by global companies that are seeking ways to increase value to their shareholders and other stakeholders in an increasingly multicultural, international marketplace. These companies are often looking for ways to dramatically increase resource efficiencies in a world of finite supplies of raw material and exploding consumer demand. They are discovering that by integrating environmentally sustainable principles of commerce into their strategic planning and operations, enormous opportunities are emerging to reduce negative environmental impacts at the local and global level, improve health and safety conditions for their workers, and improve their profitability. This project seeks to build on this global phenomenon by developing the local infrastructure necessary to help businesses in the Saginaw Bay Watershed incorporate environmentally sustainable business practices. The project will achieve this goal by developing a network of businesses and other interested stakeholders into a formal partnership.

Saginaw Bay Watershed Livestock Exclusion

Watershed Wide

LC

The Saginaw Bay Watershed includes all or part of 22 counties in east/central Michigan. A Michigan DEQ-SWQD survey identified animal access sites within the watersheds contributing sediment and nutrient loading to the Bay. The goal of the project was to reduce the nutrient loading to the Saginaw Bay caused by livestock access to drains of the watershed.

May 2004 - This project supported the joint administration (U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and Ducks Unlimited – Great Lakes) of a project designed to restore wetland and grassland habitats as outdoor classrooms on elementary, middle, and high school lands in the Saginaw Bay Watershed. This project intends to develop 5 to 10 educational facilities, as well as provide associated supplies (binoculars, dip nets, text materials) that will assist in interpretation of the educational areas, as well as discuss sustainable concepts and why wildlife habitat conservation and appreciation is an important component of the educational process.

Scientific Irrigation Scheduling for SBW Producers

Watershed Wide

WM

October 2001 - Designed to assist farmers who utilize irrigation for crop production, this project helped individuals better understand soil/water holding capacity, how evapotranspiration varies throughout the growing season, how water needs vary over time, and the movement of agricultural chemicals through the soil. WIN funding helped provide education, as well as allowed for the purchase of a Troxler Electron Moisture Sensor that allows for sensitive determination of water content at a variety of soil levels. The sensor is available to Extension agents throughout the watershed.

November 2005 - The purpose of this project was to determine the amount and types of wetland habitat that are required to support the nutritional needs of spring migrant birds. The project produced a planning tool/methodology that assists biologists in conducting a more accurate and cost effective determination of habitat priorities in the Great Lakes region generally, and in the Saginaw Bay Region specifically.

Upper Bad River Watershed Sediment Reduction Project

Gratiot

LC

July 2014 - The Gratiot Conservation District is pleased to announce a new soil saving incentive program in the Upper Bad River Watershed aimed at paying landowners to adopt conservation practices on high-risk fields with the intention of reducing the amount of sediment delivered to streams. This pilot program will utilize a new online watershed management tool called the Great Lakes Watershed Management System developed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in partnership with Purdue University and the MSU-Institute of Water Research. The tool assesses how much sediment can be saved from entering streams by applying different Best Management Practices (BMPs) on the land and paying participants based on their actual sediment reduction performance rather than a set flat rate. This pay-for-performance approach is the first of its kind in the Saginaw Bay Watershed and could be used as an example for future projects in other watersheds.

June 2005 - This project, developed by Global ReLeaf of Michigan, propsed to support and grow a network of communities in the Saginaw Bay Region that are focused on maintaining and establishing urban tree programs. This grant supported quarterly meetings for watershed communites, provision of technical assstance to communites, the utilization for native and local provenance trees for street tree replacement and park plantings, and the engagement of volunteers in tree inventories, tree boards, and tree plantings.

Wood Ducks in the Watershed

Watershed Wide

CD, LM

November 2000 - Bob Kraut, fifth grade teacher at Bay City’s Washington Elementary School, developed this innovative program designed to teach youth about wildlife and the outdoors. Through the Wood Ducks in the Watershed project, fifth graders build and place approximately 60 wood duck nesting boxes per year on area public and private lands. High school students from Bay City Western and Bay City Central high schools are mapping, repairing, and collecting data from the boxes. Information that students collect is passed on to local and state agencies for statistical research purposes. This is an ongoing project that is funded outside of the school budget.